Oh Captain, My Captain
by BloodyxLovely
Summary: Annabel Montgomery is an anthropologist with a few special powers herself. As she steers more into the galactic cultures, S.H.I.E.L.D. comes and finds her. She is leading them to help find the Tesseract and save the Earth from an invasion. But along the way, she meets Captain America. With is blonde hair and muscle-bound figure, she can't help but notice him. Will he notice her?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This story is starting a bit before pre-avengers. I like incorporating my own plots into stories. I own nothing but my own character, Annabel. **

Chapter One:

The heat is blazing down and sweat trickles my brow. My t-shirt is sticking to my pasty skin in this Egyptian heat. The government has given me special permission to study the pyramids one last time. The conspiracy about aliens making the pyramids is something that the Egyptian government has wanted me to find out, so here I am, slaving away. I have no idea how these people wear pants and sweaters in this heat. I am dying.

"Well that looks peculiar." I mumble to myself and scrape off a piece of metal within the pyramid wall. The insides of these things are marvelous. All hollowed out and there are secret passages everywhere. The metal piece has a strange engraving on it. It looks as though it is from Norse mythology. The name on it reads Bilskirnir, meaning "lightning-crack", definitely referencing Thor. But Thor is good, so maybe it is a warning or some other type of reference.

I put the piece of metal into a bag and label the location of where I found it and the time, 15:03. I crackle in my ear signifies that my boss is trying to contact me. I had better get to the outside of this thing. But I can't remember where I came from.

I change my vision and go in to a type of "eagle vision" like in the game Assassin's Creed. A trail of gold leads me to my path and I quickly leave the small cavern in the pyramid. I maneuver my way through the tunnels, everything looks so ancient.

I look to the left as I'm almost to the entrance, but a different color of light catches my eyes. A bluish glow emits from the sand next to the path that has been dug out. I walk over and switch my vision back to normal. A sharp piece of foreign object emits a small glow and I pull it out of the sand.

"What the fuck," I whisper to myself. The object is a broken off piece of something, but I cannot identify it off of the top of my head. It's warm, like it's an energy source. "I had better get this back to the lab." I quickly switch my vision and place the piece of object in a bag and label it once more. It's now 15:49 and I reach the entrance to the pyramid. I leave the entrance, my vision switches as I go outside and I look up from the golden trail.

"Doctor Montgomery, it is a pleasure to meet you." I gasp and see a tall black man standing in front of me. And eye-patch covers his left eye, his bald head shining in the sun. He's wearing all black and looks at me with a sly grin.

"Uh, hello there Mr..?" I hold out my dirt covered right hand, and he takes it in a strong grip.

"The name is Dr. Nick Fury, and I am a part of S.H.I.E.L.D., and we were wondering if you would help us on a current mission. We are in need of your expertise on the galactic world." I look around the desolate area and then give this "Dr. Fury" person a look over. He's pretty scary looking, and that makes me want to say yes. No wonder the government sends guys like this to talk me into things.

"Well, why don't we go somewhere private? I am doing pretty secretive work right now, and I need to get these artifacts back to the agency I work for. And I also need a shower." The man nods and waves his hands forward, signaling I should walk to my vehicle. I start and he follows, taking long strides next to me, but never getting ahead.

We get to my Jeep, brought in from the United States, and hop inside. The air is humid and I want it to just get cold. I miss the snow.

"Okay Fury, what are you wanting me for?" He looks at me with his eye, and starts speaking in a low, eccentric voice.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. is an acronym Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. We are a task force that helps save the planet from intergalactic attacks. There is a team of super-people of sorts called The Avengers. The Avengers need your help. You will be working with Dr. Bruce Banner, and your cousin Tony Stark." I quickly stop the car and look at him. No one knows that Tony and I are cousins except for Tony and Pepper. What the fuck is up with this guy?

"How the hell did you know Tony and I are related? Wait, and how did you know where I was?" Fury looks at me and says, "I think you should continue driving, you're holding up traffic." I floor the gas and take us to my hotel room in the middle of nowhere.

"Do you have everything packed, Dr. Montgomery?" I look to Fury and nod. He explained to me about what is going on with an artifact called the Tesseract. As soon as he said that word I was on board. He has to have special intelligence to know everything, and it is best not to question people in that kind of power.

"Did you deliver the artifacts?" He looks at me with his non-covered eye and says, "Those artifacts come to S.H.I.E.L.D. anyway, so I just kept them. You and Dr. Banner are going to be studying them together, as well as Stark. We need to get one more Avenger, he's in the United States, and then we will arrive on location." I nod and look at my duffel back and then back to Fury. "Well, take me to your leader." He shakes his head, trying to hide the smirk on his face.

"Dr. Montgomery, it is time for you to become a part of The Avengers."

And what a hell of a ride this will be.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

"You did hear about the plant that was studying the Tesseract, yes?" Fury looks at me with a beady eye. The helicopter shakes as he asks the question. I think the pilot was remembering what happened there.

"I do, sir. I was close by doing a study for the government with Dr. Selvig. But I have not heard from him since the accident. Is he dead?" Another dead look from Fury and he reveals to me pretty shocking news.

"Dr. Selvig is just fine. He is under the control of Loki, the Asgardian..." My eyes widen and my breath hitches in my throat. I put up my hand and signal to Fury to stop talking. My hands start shaking and memories flash.

"Stop right there. I know who Loki is." I clench my jaw and start ringing my black t-shirt. I look down at my tattoo covered legs and they start glowing, the vines from my roses moving along my skin in a flurry of anger and redemption.

"I am surprised you did not catch that I know Loki. And Dr. Selvig is _not_ fine if he is under that bastard's control! How fucking dare you let this happen! What were you doing with the Tesseract anyway, building weapons, thinking of a new way to kill other people? I know many things about your work, Fury. And you are so fucking lucky I decided to come with you. But since this is Loki and Dr. Selvig we are talking about, _I _am doing _you_ a favor." Fury, well, he looks furious whenever I start badgering his work with the Tesseract. His jaw clenches and his hands turn into fists.

"We are almost to New York, Fury." The pilot says, and Fury goes up to the cockpit, leaving me to seethe. I start chewing on the barbell in my tongue and try to calm my nerves down. My vision is flickering back and forth and the tattoos on my legs are squirming.

My powers erupted from something I was studying a couple years ago. I was studying in the Everglades and found a piece of shrapnel that was believed to be from space. I hadn't noticed anything strange about it except a few different markings, similar to the ones found at the pyramids. But it cut me. It was sharp as a diamond, and I got a giant gash in my leg. There was apparently something about it when it reacted with human blood. My partner called the agency and the paramedics arrived. I was taken to the lab and probed and prodded like a science experiment.

When I woke up a few days later, my legs were covered in vine tattoos that followed my main arteries. I started panicking and all of a sudden my vision changed to the type of "eagle vision", as I call it. The vines on my legs start moving toward my arms, and all of a sudden in a panic, poison thorns shoot out from my finger tips and nail the scientist in the throat, and he falls over, dead as a doornail. I am not particularly sure about how this all happened, but I panicked and ran away.

After a few months the scientists caught up to me, and they told me that my powers needed honing. I had hidden myself away from everyone. But in the time I was away I tried to alter my appearance as much as possible. My hair turned a fire red and my eyes turned emerald as a reaction to what had happened to me. I had someone tattoo roses on my vines, and I got a few more as tribute to my work and family. I added a few piercings to my face, and a couple more to my ears. Not many people take me seriously anymore, but I work for a major government agency, so I think I do pretty okay.

"Dr. Montgomery, we have arrived." I didn't even notice the helicopter had landed, but soon Fury pushes me into a cab and we head into the center of New York City. I see the giant Stark tower looming in the sky, but we soon pass it.

"Aren't we picking up Tony?" Fury just looks straight ahead, still sore about my comments earlier. But he brought Loki into this, and that is just a sore spot I don't want to talk about with anyone, let alone Fury.

"Guess not," I mumble to myself, and look at the passing buildings and skyscrapers. We get to the edge of the city in a run-down area and I see an old-fashioned looking gym. I turn to Fury and he silently gets out of the cab. I follow suit and step onto the sidewalk. My combat boots bang against the concrete, and the buckles clang with every step. I wrap my arms up in my sweater and we enter the gym.

The gym is kind of dark and I hear someone punching vigorously on a bag. It smells of dust, sweat, and blood. I look around and it feels like I stepped back in time. An old boxing ring with red, white, and blue all across the bottom mats, blood and sweat stains on the floor. I hear a chain break and see a punching bag fly across the room, sand falling in a straight line behind it.

My heart does a little flutter as my body reacts to the strength of another human being. My hormones are still a little out of whack because of my accident. Yeah, we will go with that.

I look at the man who starts putting on another punching bag, and I recognize him immediately; Captain America, aka Steve Rogers. What a hunk.

His body is glistening with sweat and I feel my jaw drop, and my eyes widen. His muscles are taut from the work out, and his bangs are stuck to his face. He's punching the bag over and over again, anger filling every hit to the bag full of sand. I follow each fluid movement to a T. My breathing starts to get heavy as I channel my flow with his, but suddenly Fury starts talking and I get snapped out of my trance.

But man, he is gorgeous.

"Having trouble sleeping?" Fury asks Steve. Steve doesn't look up from the bag and continues punching it with tons of power.

"I've been asleep for 70 years. I think I've had enough rest." Fury does a small chuckle and walks closer to Steve. I watch him carefully as my boots loudly bang across the wooden floor. Steve looks up then, his eyes a brilliant blue. His eyebrows knit together and he looks between Fury and I. I lick my lips at his intensity, and look at Fury, hoping he will say something.

"Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world." Fury and I slowly approach Steve.

"When I went under," he moves from the punching bag and closer to us, "the world was at war. I wake up, they say we won. They didn't say what we lost."

I start nibbling on my lip and look between the two. Steve then looks at me and my heart flutters. I feel the vines on my legs start moving and he looks down at them and gets a confused look on his face.

"We've made some mistakes along the way. Some, very recently." Steve looks up from my vine covered legs and back to Fury.

"Are you here with a mission, sir?"

"I am." Steve comes out from behind the punching bag and steps closer to Fury. He starts undoing his hand wraps and gives Fury a stare down.

My arms cross as Steve gets closer, the vines on my legs definitely freaking out now. I feel the energy pulsate from them and up to my arms. I should really learn to control this.

"Trying to get me back in the world?" Steve remarks, stealing glances at me, making my heart flutter.

"Trying to save it." Fury then pulls out the file involving information about the Tesseract. Something Steve is very well acquainted with.

"HYDRA's secret weapon."

"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think. The Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs."

"Who took it from you?" Steve's eyebrows knit together as concern fills his features. He should be a god.

"He's called Loki. He's not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."

"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me." Steve grabs his duffel bag, and another punching bag while Fury continues his pointless bantering.

"Ten bucks says you're wrong. There's a debriefing packet waiting for you at your apartment. Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?"

"You should have left it in the ocean." Steve starts to leave, but by the sound of Loki's name my vision starts to change and the vines creep up my entire body and reach my neck. I start breathing heavily and Steve looks at me, worried. I'm guessing my eyes have started glowing by now.

I feel a pair of hands on my arms and suddenly my whole body shuts down. My eyes start fluttering closed and I see a pair of warm blue eyes staring at me, concern filling each line within his perfect, scruff filled face.

"Are you all right, ma'am?" I try to mumble out my name but the words won't come out. Fury's features soften as he sees my state and says, "This is Dr. Montgomery. She has new abilities that her body isn't fully used to yet. She has a past with, well, with the man that took the Tesseract. Do you mind carrying her back to the cab?"

And that's the last I hear before my body shuts down, and I fall into darkness.

**Steve Roger's POV:**

The doctor's body is limp in my arms, but she feels light as a feather. I feel small shocks every time my skin brushes hers, and I can't help but feel an odd closeness to her.

"I can take her back to my apartment; it'd be easier for her to recover there than in a small cab, then back on an aircraft." Fury looks at me and raises his eyebrow. He nods then walks out, leaving the file on the floor next to me. I pick up the file and then pick up the woman. Her hair is damp with sweat, but the vines on her legs have stopped moving. I wonder how she got those. I have never seen such a thing in my entire life, which isn't saying much seeing as I have been frozen for seventy years.

I look down and her eyes start fluttering open; her warm breath trickling my face. Emerald spheres look up at me and my breath hitches. She's truly stunning.

**Annabel Montgomery POV:**

His blue eyes look down at me, and my breath starts getting heavy.

"Are you all right Doctor?" I slowly nod and sit up from his arms. As soon as no skin contact is left I feel a sudden chill.

"I'm all right. I'm just not very used to my power. It takes a lot out of me." I sheepishly look up at him and he gives a nervous chuckle.

"My name is Annabel, by the way." I hold out my hand and he grabs it softly.

"Steve, it's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Montgomery." I smile and feel a blush creep onto my face.

I look around and notice that Fury is gone and the Tesseract file is left on the floor. Where did he go?

"Where is Fury?" I attempt to get off of the floor, and Steve grabs my arm to help me along the way.

"He left, and I offered to bring you to my apartment so you could, uh," he starts to stammer and a blush creeps onto his face. How adorable is he?

"Recover?" I finish his sentence and he nods, rubbing the back of his head with his hand.

"That's perfect. Thank you, Steve. Do you have a spare room or couch I could sleep on? And a good freaking meal; I haven't eaten properly in months." I look down at my full figure and realize that I look like I stuff my face all of the time.

"I can cook you something, if you'd like. But first we need to get to the apartment. Are you okay on motorcycles?" I nod and tell him how I biked across Europe about five months ago searching for galactic artifacts.

"No Steve, it's okay. I can cook my own meal, and you one if you'd like. But, I want to hear more about the adventures of Captain America during our time together." Steve gives a small smile and he holds the back door open for me and I see his motorcycle out back.

"What a beautiful creature." I mumble and trace my fingers along the chrome bars and leather seat.

"Very beautiful." Steve mumbles, and I feel a blush come onto my face.

"Let's get rocking, Steve!" I hop on the back and pat the front. Steve gets on and I wrap my arms around his torso. His muscles twitch and I internally sigh. He starts up the bike and the vibrations go throughout my body, and we ride to his apartment.

My first night with Captain America; Oh Captain, My Captain, I am in for a treat.

**A/N: Ahhh, I hope everyone is liking the story so far! I would love some feedback, criticisms, anything. I'm just happy people are reading it though **** Thank you everyone, I love you!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

The motorcycle hums as we travel the few blocks to Steve's apartment. The apartment is a few blocks away from the gym, and it's definitely a neighborhood that he feels comfortable in. It seems very old time, very much to around the era he grew up in. I wonder how difficult the change is for him, to go from the 1942 to 2012.

We stop in front of a medium sized apartment building, the brown brick full of dirt and grime from years of standing. Steve offers a hand, and I take it graciously to get off of the motorcycle.

"Thank you for letting me stay here for the night. I'm sure we will be taken to the main area in which we will start with the Tesseract research with Dr. Banner." Steve nods and we head up a flight of stairs, and he pulls out a key. The lock clicks as it's unlocked, and we walk into his apartment.

The walls are off-white, the standard color of new apartments. He has the basic essentials of a television, a light brown couch, a recliner and a coffee table. I haven't seen simplicity like this in America in a long while. But then again, I have always been used to the Stark mansion. Uncle Howard loved his flashy things, Tony being the same.

"Your apartment looks very," I pause and Steve looks at me with raised eyebrows, "simple." I finish the sentence and he gives a small smile. My heart flutters and I have to remind myself to stay in control.

"I'm not much one for fancy things. I never have been, and never will be. That hasn't changed." I look around some more and head over to sit on the couch. I lie down and I feel my eyes start to close.

I hear Steve clanging pans around in the kitchen and realize that I'm being rude. I get up from the couch and walk to where I hear the noise. I see a small opening with a light on and hear the banging get louder.

"I'm sorry, I'm being rude. Would you like some help in here?" Steve quickly turns around, a shocked look on his face. I sheepishly smile and walk forward. The kitchen is small, but I'm okay with the closeness. I haven't been in human contact in a long time.

"No, that's okay. I can make us something real quick. You a fan of mac and cheese?" I smile and nod, "only if you put some bacon on it. That's the only way it'll be good." He nods in agreement and tells me the bacon is in the refrigerator.

I get out the bacon and notice only a couple things in the fridge, mostly beer, milk, eggs, and bacon. Does this man eat anything other than boxed foods?

The water starts boiling and I hear the macaroni being poured in. I look at him and notice that he's still pretty sweaty from the work out.

"Would you like to go shower really fast? I can take over if you would like to get out of those sweaty clothes." Steve looks at me and gives a small smile. I can't seem to control my hormones as I feel the vines on my legs start to move.

"God, would you guys fucking quit it?" I mumble out and Steve gives me an odd look from the doorway. I look up at him and my eyes widen. A sheepish look comes across my face and I motion to my legs, which are pretty much covered.

"My so-called "power" likes to react with certain heightened, eh," I chew on my lip and fiddle my fingers, "emotions." Steve opens and closes his mouth, as though he's trying to speak.

"Uh, I'm sorry. I'll just finish his up." I turn around and look at the macaroni and see it's almost done. I start up the pan with the bacon and hear the shower start to run in next room. I sigh and continue with the cooking.

Steve and I ate in a silence that wasn't awkward, but it wasn't the most comfortable. My attraction to him was getting in the way of me being able to form sentences, but I think he's also just shy around women. I know if I basically got transported into the future, I wouldn't know how to react either.

"You can sleep in my bed if you would like. I don't like having a dame," I raise my eyebrows at him with a side of my lip curled up in a smile, "I mean a, uh, woman, sleeping on a couch."

"No Steve, it's really okay. I don't mind sleeping on the couch. You can have your own bed." I give him a small smile and lie down on the light brown fabric couch. The cushions are worn in and smell like man. Steve sighs and brings out a fleece blanket and a comforter, and two pillows.

"Well, since you don't want to sleep in the bed, then neither will I. Here is a pillow and blanket; I will be on the floor if you need me." I roll my eyes and can't help but blush a little at the sweet gesture. But I can't stand him sleeping on the floor.

I sigh and look at him. His shirt is rising up in the front as he's laying the blanket on the floor and I see a small portion of his torso. And hot damn, is it nice.

"Steve, I have a proposition." He looks at me and raises an eyebrow, listening. His sharp features are shadowing in the light, giving him a god-like look on his face. My breath catches in my throat and I swallow a dry lump.

I breathe out and say quietly, "Well, a way to get what we both want is if we both sleep in the bed." I bite my lip and Steve's eyes widen in, what I hope, is surprise.

"Uh," he rubs the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable.

"I am now embarrassed. Okay, I'm sorry I suggested it. I will just go and rent a hotel room. Thank you for allowing me to stay Steve, but that was out of line." I get up and head to the door, Steve quickly moves and steps in front of me. Our torsos are touching, and my pulse speeds up. I never realized how much taller he is than I am.

"If that is the only way we will both get what we want, then why would you leave? I offered you a place to sleep, not for you to spend money that needs no spending. I will give you some clothes to sleep in." Steve looks me in the eyes, his blue orbs looking sincere and innocent. I sigh a little and nod. He gives a small smile that makes me weak at the knees, and he leads me to the room.

Steve's bedroom is just as simple as his living area. A queen sized bed light blue sheets and a red comforter; it definitely fits his other persona. A small dresser and a couple of bed-side tables, and his room is complete. I see him walk over to the dresser and pull out a white t-shirt and a pair of boxers. He looks back and asks, "Is this okay?" I nod and he hands them to me.

He points to the bathroom and tells me if I want to shower to go ahead, and told me where to find the towels. I do as he suggests and take a shower.

An hour passes as I realize that I felt very unclean. I hadn't had a proper shower since I arrived in Egypt a couple weeks ago. Sure, I had bathed, but not as proper as this. And it feels wonderful.

I dry off and put on the shirt and boxers Steve lent me, and I take the collar and smell. His shirt smells just like cinnamon and musk, just like his entire apartment. I could drown in this scent.

I quickly realize how long I've been in here and brush my hair fast with one of Steve's combs and head back into his bedroom. Steve is propped up against the wall reading the newspaper and I set my clothes in a pile on the floor next to the nightstand.

"Thank you Steve, for doing this." I say as I get under the comforter and notice that Steve is in a pair of plaid pajama pants and a plain white t-shirt.

Steve looks down at my legs and notices my "tattoos", mainly the vines and the falsified roses, and then back at me and smiles.

"It's not a problem, ma'am. I'm happy to oblige. Although, I'm not very good with women, and I am sorry if we wake up in a bit of uh, a," he looks away a blush crosses his face and I can't help but smile.

"An awkward," I try and find the word as well then finally say, "Predicament?" He nods and I laugh a bit.

"It's all right Steve. I don't mind, I know certain things can't help but _pop_ up in the morning." Steve blushes a bright red that goes all the way to his ears. I guess he's not used to women being so straightforward, either.

"Well, on that awkward note, I say it's time we hit the hay. In the morning we have an aircraft to catch to meet up with Nick." I nod and get snuggled up into the blankets. Steve turns out the light and I feel him come back into the bed. I turn on my right side and I feel him do the same.

All too soon my eyelids start to get heavy, and I fall asleep, the heat of Steve's body radiating against my skin.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four:

I feel a warm arm around me and turn over and see an angelic face. His eyes are closed and he looks serene. I relish in the moment, but then realize that Steve and I barely know each other. I hear a groan and feel something poke against my back. I blush a little and turn around and see Steve slowly open up his eyes.

"Good morning, Captain." I mumble out and rub the sleep from my eyes. Steve keeps his arm on my waist and mumbles out a, "good morning". I close my eyes once more and feel his stare across my face. I inconspicuously lick my lips and feel the mini soldier poke against my leg. Someone seems excited.

I chuckle and say, "Steve, I'm not sure if that's your other arm, or if you're just really excited to be laying here with me." Steve coughs and quickly rolls over. I open up my eyes and he looks back at me sheepishly.

"I'm sorry ma'am. This is highly improper." I laugh once more and get out of the bed. I stretch my arms and peek over at Steve. His eyes are closed and he's mumbling something to himself. After a couple minutes I see his face flushing a bright red when he sees me looking at him, and he gets up.

I can't help but look at his pelvic area and I'm a bit sad to say that his little soldier is down. But can you blame me? He's extremely attractive and I haven't had sex in a few years. My hormones are so out of whack.

"We should probably get going Steve, it's almost nine. Our helicopter leaves at ten." Steve nods and puts on a pair of pants and I pick up my clothing and decide to just wear Steve's clothes to the port where we're leaving from.

I slip on my boots and Steve offers me a bag to put my clothes in, and I accept graciously. Fury has all my stuff, so I guess it'll be wherever we're meeting him.

* * *

We leave from Steve's apartment in a government car and they take us to a remote area. A skinny man with a Bluetooth type device in his ear greets us, and we go into the jet. Steve goes and reads over the Tesseract file once more and I look at the man who greeted us at the area.

"We're about forty minutes out from home base, sir." The pilot says to Coulson, and he nods then walks over to Steve and I.

"So who are you, exactly?" I ask him, and pull my jacket on fully. It turns out that this man had my clothing, and he was taking us to our location instead of Fury.

"I am Agent Coulson," he looks over to Steve and gets a bit star-struck. I can see in his eyes that he really idolizes Steve. He really is a true hero to someone.

Steve looks up from the file and looks at a screen playing a video of the Hulk.  
"So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum they used on me?"

A look comes over Coulson and he sits down in a chair. "A lot of people were. You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought Gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erksine's original formula."

"Didn't really go his way, did it?" I look between the two of them and watch the conversation in awe. I keep seeing the Hulk videos next to Steve, and wonder how such a brilliant man, can turn into that.

"Not so much. When he's not that thing though, guy's like a Stephen Hawking." Steve scrunches his face up in confusion. I start laughing and Coulson explains more as Steve looks at me with an even more confused look.

"He's like a," Coulson searches himself for words, "a smart person. I gotta say, it's an honor to meet you, officially. I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping." Steve gives Coulson a weird look, and I try and suppress a laugh. He gets up and starts walking to the cockpit and I follow suit. "I mean, I was, I was present while you were unconscious, from the ice. You know it's really just a, just a huge honor to have you on board, it's..." Steve looks at Coulson and gives a small nod, and looks back out the front of the aircraft through the window.

"Well I hope I'm the man for the job."

"Oh you are, absolutely. Ah-we made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input."

"The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little... old-fashioned?"

"Everything that's happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old-fashioned." They sit back down and Coulson looks at me.

"So what exactly is your power, Dr. Montgomery?" I sigh and I notice that Steve is looking over at us, listening in on our conversation. I blush and look down at my now fully exposed legs. I changed into a pair of jean shorts, a white button down top, with a leather jacket to make me feel not so exposed.

"Well Agent Coulson," I start but he holds up his hand and tells me to call him Phil. I smile and nod, then continue with my story.

"Agent Coulson, I am not even quite sure what the hell my power is." I chuckle and he nudges for me to go on. Steve has now taken an interest and walked over to where we are, and sits down across from Phil.

I blush and continue, "I was working in the Everglades and noticed something in the water. A piece of metal from somewhere other than earth; it had a bluish glow to it, and was very sharp. It was definitely a piece of shrapnel. I had no idea how sharp it was, so I picked it up with my bare hands, and my hand got sliced open, so I dropped it, and my leg sliced open just as easily." The men now looked at my legs as I show them a small scar on my thigh, almost nonexistent now from all the vines and roses covering my legs.

"My partner panicked but I told him I would be okay, but we _needed_ to get that artifact, no matter what it took. It would definitely be helpful in the long run." I start rubbing my hands up and down my legs, a subconscious effort as I remember my accident.

"My partner got the artifact and we put it in a cloth bag, mostly because it would have ripped through the shitty plastic ones the government issues. I start feeling a bit faint, so I tell my partner that we need to get back. He quickly calls the paramedics and I go and sit near our camp. Soon the medics arrive and I am almost completely passed out by then." I take a breath and Coulson hands me a bottle of water and I take it from him, graciously.

"I wake up a few days later in a lab. Tons of needles are in me, and I hear beeps everywhere. Eyes were all on me, and I kept hearing them mumble, calling me a 'freak accident', and things like that. It didn't seem reassuring. I opened up my eyes and saw bright lights all around me." I look at the two men and they are still listening, intrigued in my story.

"The doctor comes up to me and tells me that I look different, and that there are going to be things about me that I won't be able to control for a while, but it would recede over time. I panicked and sat up from my bed, pulling out all of the needles in my arms and legs I notice something different. There are rose vines with thorns up and down my legs. I panic more and they start moving and I see them start to appear on my arms, like I can _feel_ them growing. Then something else happens." I whisper and look at them both and switch my vision. I know my eyes are glowing and they both sit back, stunned.

"My vision changes and I can see people's colors. Like, for instance, with both of you I see blue with hints of your aura colors. Blue means on my side, or good. But, if someone is red, then they're my enemy, etc." I switch my vision back and start moving the vines in my legs and the men stare as they crawl up my body. I hold out my hands and my finger nails elongate, a poisonous serum leaking out of them that smells like roses.

"This is what happened to me when the metal reacted with my blood. Whatever power that thing held, did this to me. I'm just now learning to control it. But with my heightened emotions, sometimes this just happens and I can't help it. Kind of like the Hulk, but I at least know what I'm doing instead of just ruining everything. I never miss my target; never. I ended up accidentally killing the doctor. I ran out of there as fast as I could and went to a remote area until S.H.I.E.L.D. found me. And, well, here I am." I nod and settle down my vines, and they settle into place with my roses.

"Oh, and I used to be blonde and I had blue eyes." The men looked shocked and I laughed a bit. "Yeah, this was a part of my change too. I still can't get over feeling like a lab rat, though. It was terrible." They both sit in silence, staring at me. Coulson gets a beep over his headset and gets up and is informed that we're almost to our destination.

Steve looks at me, concern and sadness in his eyes. "You went through a lot, didn't you?" He asks me. I nod and he gets up. I follow suit and say, "But, you did too. This world is so different from the one that you came from. You have had it worse than I." I smile at him and put my hand on his broad, muscular shoulder.

"If you ever want to talk, just tell me. And I will try my hardest to meet up with you." Steve smiles and I feel the aircraft land. I stumble a bit and Steve catches me in his arms. My heartbeat quickens and I feel his does too. We give each other sheepish smiles and he helps me straighten up.

The door opens up and we step out onto a landing pad in the middle of the ocean. Outside the craft is a woman with hair red as mine, and in a black suit. She must be Black Widow, the woman Tony told me about a couple years ago.

"Agent Romanoff - Captain Rogers and Doctor Montgomery."

"Ma'am." Steve says, and I give her a small nod.

"Hi. They need you on the bridge; they're starting the face trace." She says blatantly ignoring Steve and I. Steve and I look at one another and shrug. Coulson tells her that he will see her there.

"It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. Thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?" Natasha looks at Steve and he gets yet another confused look on his face.

"Trading cards?"

"They're vintage. He's very proud." I smile at her and she asks me a couple questions when Doctor Banner starts bumping into people while observing the carrier.

"Doctor Banner." Steve says and Banner looks him up and down.

"Oh, yeah, hi. They told me you'd be here.

"Dr. Banner, it's such a pleasure to finally meet you. Your work with gamma radiation is truly amazing; although, we do have something in common with 'accidents' happening at work." Banner gives a small smile; thankful I didn't call him a freak or call him a beast or monster.

I hear Natasha ask Steve if this is a bit different than what he's used to, and he tells her that it's a bit familiar. I focus my attention on Banner, and I hold out my hand and he takes it gently, I look at Steve and he holds out his hand as well, Banner shakes it, "Word is you can find the cube." Steve asks Bruce, and Bruce looks at him oddly.

"Is that the only word on me?"

"Only word I care about." Bruce nods and looks relieved.

"Must be strange for you, all of this."

"Well, this is actually kind of familiar."

"Gentlemen, and lady, you might wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breathe."

"Is this a submarine?" Steve asks and looks at me. I shrug and Banner starts talking.

"Really, they want me in a submerged pressurized metal container?" All of us go the edge and we look and see that there are propellers coming up out of the water and we are lifting into the air.

"Oh no, this is much worse." Bruce comments and we all head into the craft carrier.

We walk downstairs and see a silver table with a bunch of chairs, a whole team working on the craft, and Nick Fury in the center surrounded by a bunch of screens. I wonder how he looks at them all at once...

Coulson comes in and starts talking to Steve as I look at Fury talking to another woman. I recognize her as the one working with Dr. Selvig. Maria Hill is her name, that's right.

"All engines operating. S.H.I.E.L.D. emergency protocol one nine three point six in effect." Maria Hill looks at Fury, "We're at level, sir."

"Good! Let's vanish." Fury states and looks back at his computer screens.

"Engage retro reflection panels."

"Gentlemen, and Doctor Montgomery." I nod to him and Steve walks over to Fury and gives him the ten dollars from their bet earlier.

"I'm guessing something finally surprised you." I chuckle and Steve shakes his head.

"Doctor, thank you for coming." Banner and Fury shake hands and Banner looks around.

"Thanks for asking nicely. So, um, how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind.

"Well where are you with that?"

Coulson pops in and says, "We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones..." Steve and I look at one another, not really paying attention to what's being said. I keep thinking about his gesture last night, letting me sleep in the bed and him on the floor. Those kinds of things just aren't seen anymore.

"... Laptops, if it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"It's still not gonna find them in time." Natasha pops up.

"You have to narrow your field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?" I stop listening and inconspicuously stare at Steve for a while. I'm wondering how he's feeling about all of this. He's just a simple soldier from the 1940s put into a big, technological world 70 years later. Man, what a life.

* * *

It's night time and Coulson and Steve are talking. They're making a plan for Steve to go down and get Loki.

"Looks like you're up Captain." Steve goes into the back and I follow him. I see in a glass case a new Captain America suit.

"Wow, that looks much different than your old one." Steve nods and stares more.

"Are you okay, Steve?" I put my hand on his shoulder and he looks back at me, worry in his eyes.

"What if I can't stop him?"

* * *

We're in a plane and Loki is strapped into a seat, Steve looking very wary at him. Steve is in his suit still, but his cowl is down, Tony is here in his suit, but no helmet. Just two superheroes, one modern, one classic. What a sight.

Fury comes over the radio and talks to Natasha. I stare at Loki, contempt filling my very core.

"I don't like it." Steve says as I still give Loki a stare down. He's staring at me as well, knowing his effect on me. My eyes are glowing, and I can feel the vines in my legs squirming around.

"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?"

"I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop."

"Still, you were pretty spry, for an older fellow. What's your thing? Pilates?"

"What?"

"Tony, shut the fuck up!" I yell and he gives me a strange look.

"Baby cousin, what's eating your insides? Rose vines a little too much ink for you?" I hold up my finger and my nail elongates, dripping poison on the ground. It burns a small hole in the carpet.

"Don't piss me off right now." Tony puts his hands up and a clap of lightning fills the sky. Loki starts to look sick, and I know what's about to come.

"What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?" Steve asks and Loki stares at him.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows." Loki looks at the sky, and the twisted smile on my face elongates.

A bump on the roof signals to Loki that his least favorite person is finally here: Thor.


	5. Chapter 5

**I just want to thank everyone who is reading this story. It means so much to me that all of you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing. I have edited chapters two and four to fit more with the movie, so if you want to re-read it will be a lot more smooth. But if anyone feels like reviewing it, or just saying "Wow, this is great", it will be much appreciated.**

**Thank you all again. :) You make this fun, and you give me motivation.**

* * *

Chapter Five:

Loki looks up and the smile on my face widens. Tony and Steve are staring at the top of the plane and then back at me.

"What's going on?" Natasha asks and I stand up, laughing.

"Loki's worst nightmare is about to come waltzing into this plane." Tony puts his helmet on and Steve quickly tries to stop him.

"What are you doing?" The ramp opens up and Thor lands on it with a loud thump. He hits Tony away and he falls onto Steve. I quickly move out of the way and Thor grabs Loki by the neck and jumps out of the plane.

"Now there's that guy." Tony mumbles and Natasha asks if it's another Asgardian.

"That guy's friendly." Steve remarks and I laugh, probably very twisted sounding by all of the looks I am getting.

"That doesn't matter. If he frees Loki, or kills him, the Tesseract's lost." Tony begins walking out of the plane, standing on the ramp. Steve rushes toward him and gives Tony a worried look.

"Stark, we need a plan of attack."

"I have a plan: Attack!" Tony then flies out of the jet and Steve runs over and gets a parachute. I grab one as well and he looks at me, worried.

"I think you should sit this one out, Annabel." I roll my glowing eyes.

"Steve, you need my help. Just please, let me." Steve nods and we both run and jump out of the plane simultaneously.

I free fall for a few seconds, embracing the wind on my face. The vines are now actually trickling out of my skin like poisonous whips. I pull the parachute and Steve and I land on the ground. I see Thor and Tony fighting one another on the ground while Loki sits up there, perched like a cat. What are these two imbeciles doing? I start climbing up to where Loki is and sneak up behind him.

"So Loki, we meet once again." Loki quickly turns, his face turning smug.

"Why yes, Miss Montgomery, we do. And how are your parents doing? Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot I killed them." I let out a roar, shaking the leaves and all of the men below look up at me from their fight. They're all spread out between the trees; I didn't catch what happened but Captain looks at them and says, "Are we done here?"

I look at Loki and the tendrils coming out of my hands hiss as they get closer and closer to hitting him. I pull back my arm and get ready to whip but Tony quickly flies up and holds my arms behind my back.

"Calm down, Anna. It's okay." I let out another screech of sadness and the tendrils fall back onto my skin. Tears start streaming down my face and Tony carries me up to the air plane, whispering that things will be okay.

* * *

We walk Loki to the glass chamber, and as we approach we walk past Doctor Banner in the lab. Loki gives a sly smile and I hit him on the back of his greasy head, "keep looking forward, jackass." Loki hisses at me and I turn around and walk back into the lab.

I look at Banner and ask him how his work is coming.

"It's all right, but I just can't figure a couple more things out." I nod and walk over, my vision still changed from my anger.

"Are you all right, Doctor Montgomery?" I nod and give him a small smile. His color is purple, a mix of anger and calm rolled into one man. How does he do it?"

"Please, Doctor Banner, call me Annabel. I'm just so angry, all of the time. But I guess you know a little thing about that, don't you?" He nods slowly and I explain to him about my vision.

"Now that is truly fascinating. Can you switch it on and off?" I nod and close my eyes and concentrate on something that makes me happy and calm. Steve's face pops into my head and I give a small smile. When I feel calm wash over me, I open up my eyes and see Banner clearly again.

"It just takes a bit of me calming down." He nods, understanding. Fury comes over the intercom and says that he would like all of us in the bridge. Banner and I give one another a look then head down there.

Steve is down there in his suit, but the cowl is down, Banner and I take seats next to him, me closer of course, and Thor is sat down as well away from everyone. We are all watching a monitor with Loki on it, and I start seething once more. I should really learn to control my anger.

"He really grows on you doesn't he?" I give him a look and say, "He will never grow on me. I just want him dead."

"Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" After Thor gives me a look of recognition, he looks to Steve and the rest of the gang, minus Tony.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard, nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army, from outer space?"

"So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

"Selvig?"

"He's an astrophysicist." A look crosses Thor's face, and I know what he's feeling.

"He's a friend." He mumbles and I get up and walk over to him.

"Thor, he will be fine. We will figure this out." Thor looks at me once more, then realizes who I am. He quickly grabs me from around the waist and lifts me in the air.

"Lady Annabel, it is an honor to see you once more!" A smile crosses his face, then a look of sadness, "Something is different about you." I nod and tell him we will talk later.

I look back at Steve and he gives Thor a menacing look. What's that about?

"Loki has them under some kind of spell, along with one of ours."

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you can smell crazy on him." Thor quickly turns to Banner, his stance defensive.

"Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days." I look at Thor and he stands up a little straighter.

"He's adopted." I cover my mouth and start laughing at Thor's comment, and everyone stares at me a look of seriousness on their faces.

"Oh come on, that was funny." They all shake their heads and I see Fury hiding an amused expression on his face.

"I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium, what do they need the Iridium for?"

Tony walks in with Coulson trailing behind and he starts in with his genius talk.

"It's a stabilizing agent." He looks to Coulson and whispers, "I'm saying, take a weekend; I'll fly you to Portland. Keep love alive."

Coulson leaves Tony's side and Tony walks over to Thor and I. He puts and arm over my shoulder and leans against me slightly.

"Means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D." He looks to Thor, "No hard feelings point break, you got a mean swing." Tony punches Thor in the arm and Thor looks like he's about to pound Tony to bits. I look at Thor and shake my head no, and he calms himself a bit.

Tony walks over to the control panels where Fury usually stands and starts rambling on again, "Also, means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants. Ah, raise the mizzen mast, ship the topsails!" The S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel look at him strangely, and he shrugs it off. "That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."

Tony covers one eye and starts looking around at the monitors. He looks to Maria Hill and asks, "How does Fury even see these?"

"He turns."

"Sounds exhausting!" I stifle a laugh and Banner does as well. Steve is watching Tony carefully and I stare at his perfectly chiseled jaw line. What a beautiful man.

I sigh out loud and Tony looks over at me for a split second and sees me watching Steve. He gives me a wink and I blush. Steve looks over at me and my eyes widen, I quickly turn my attention back to Tony. He starts messing with screens and sticks something under a desk.

"The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source – of high energy density. Something to, oh I don't know, kick start the Cube."

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Maria has her hand on her hip and Tony just stares at her blankly.

"Last night," he shrugs and continues, "The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers – am I the only one who did the reading?"

Steve pipes up while Tony takes a breath break, "Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?"

"He'd have to heat the Cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Steve's face portrays he has no idea what that means, and I go and take a seat by him. He looks at me and gives a small smile, and I inconspicuously move my knee to touch his. A jolt of electricity shoots up my leg, and Steve looks at me, hoping I won't notice.

"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the Quantum Tunneling effect."

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve heavy-ion fusion at any reactor on the planet."

"Finally, someone who speaks English!"

Steve looks at me confused and asks, "Is that what just happened?" I shrug my shoulders and give a smile, he returns one and I scoot a little closer to him. Steve takes the hint and opens up his shoulders a bit more so I can lean close to him comfortably.

He's taking my affectionate actions in stride, but I hope I'm not coming on too strong. Steve is such a great guy, and I've had shitty ones in the past. I hope I don't fuck this up.

I see Tony give his hand to Banner, "It's good to meet you, Doctor Banner. Your work on anti-electronic collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous rage monster."

Banner pauses and stares at Tony awkwardly, "Thanks."

Fury enters and I quickly sit up, Steve doing the same. I don't need Fury to see me getting chummy with Captain America while we're on a mission.

"Doctor Banner is only here to track the Cube. I was hoping you might join him."

Steve's voice enters my ears and goosebumps hit my skin, "I'd start with that stick of his. It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the Cube. And I like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

Thor looks confused, "Monkeys? I do not understand-"

"I do!" The room goes silent and I start laughing at Steve. He looks at me and then back to the others, a blush crossing his face. "I... I understood that reference."

I pat Steve's shoulder and give him a sheepish smile. Getting up from the table I walk over to Tony and Banner.

"Shall we play, Doctors?" Tony looks between Banner and I. I nod and Banner says, "This way, sir." I raise my eyebrows and Banner corrects his sentence.

* * *

We are all working in the lab trying to track the Cube. I'm looking for places where Loki would be more likely to put them, based on buildings and population size. I've gotten down to a few cities, but I can't choose between them. I look over at Banner and he's scanning the scepter.

"The Gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract. But it's gonna take weeks to process."

I look over at Tony and he's mumbling to himself. I walk over to him and notice him typing a bunch of codes. He's definitely in his hacking mode.

"If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the Homer cluster we can clock this at around six hundred teraflops."

"All I packed was a toothbrush." I look over and smile at Banner then look back at Tony.

"Baby cousin, what are you doing?" He looks at me and Banner's comment finally registers. A small laugh comes out of his lips and he starts to ramble once more.

"You know, you should come by Stark Tower some time. Top ten floors all R and D. you'd love it, it's a candy land. And you too, Anna. You'd love it too, many different weird artifacts Pepper has collected over the years." I roll my eyes and let Banner speak first.

"Thanks but... last time I was in New York I kind of broke," he swallows, "Harlem."

"That's okay Doctor Banner, the last time Tony tried to convince the world he was a good guy in the Iron Man costume, he blew up all of New York in various places." Tony gives me a look and I hold up my hands. "Innocent bystander!"

"Well, I promise a stress free environment. No Tension, no surprises." He walks over to Banner and zaps him.

"Ow!"

"Hey!" Steve walks in and glares at Tony.

"Nothing?" Steve goes over to Tony and starts getting heated. He looks sexy when he's heated. And yelling at Tony. It's too good.

"Are you nuts?"

"Jury's out!" Tony looks to Banner, "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mello jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?" I try to stifle a laugh but fail and start cracking up at Tony. God, my emotions are out of whack from me freaking out about Loki earlier.

"Is everything a joke to you two?" I look at Tony and then back to Steve.

"Funny things are." We say in unison and then high five.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offence, Doc."

"No it's all right. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things." Banner gives a small chuckle and starts typing once more.

"You're tip-toeing, big man. You need to strut." I hit Tony on the backside of the head and he sticks his tongue out at me.

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mister Stark." Steve turns to me and just stares. I feel like a child, and now I feel bad for being a jokester with Tony. But he just brings out the worst in me.

"You think I'm not? Why did Fury call us in? Why now, why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables." Steve looks between us all and says aloud what we've all been thinking to ourselves.

"You think Fury's hiding something?"

"He's a spy, Steve. He's _the _spy." I say and Tony pipes up, "His secrets have secrets."

I walk over to Banner and place my hand on his shoulder from behind, "It's bothering you too, isn't it?"

"Uh, aah, I just want to finish my work here and," Steve cuts him off, "Doctor?"

"'A warm light for all mankind,' Loki's jab at Fury about the Cube." Banner says, still typing away at the computer.

"I heard it." Steve says. I walk over to him and place a hand on his shoulder now. He looks down at me and I say, "We all think that it was meant for you."

"Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news."

"The Stark Tower? That big ugly," Tony gives Steve a look at the jab about his tower, "building in New York?" I try and stifle one more laugh and Steve looks down at me, clearly embarrassed. I rub his shoulder and trail my hand down to his lower back. Feeling confident, and noticing his blush, I leave it there throughout the rest of the conversation.

"It's powered by an arc reactor, self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for, what, a year?"

"It's just the prototype," he says to Banner, "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now, that's what he's getting at."

I pipe up, "So, why didn't S.H.I.E.L.D. bring you in on the Tesseract project? What are they even doing in the energy business in the first place?" I start moving my nails across Steve's lower back and he shifts, putting his hand on mine as well. I'm not sure if it's out of comfort, or reciprocating the tension between us.

"I should probably look into that as soon as my decryption program finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure files."

"I knew you had your hacking face on." I say to Tony and he smiles at me, then notices Steve and I's arms around one another. He raises an eyebrow but then shrugs it off.

"I'm sorry did you say," Steve looks at him incredulously then starts to move. I grab the back of his uniform to stop him from walking forward. He looks down at me and I shake my head lightly no.

"JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours I'll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever tried to hide. Blueberry?" I take one and pop it in my mouth, Banner doing the same.

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around." Steve's voice takes on an incredulous tone, and I look to Tony and start to move away from Steve. He grasps my jacket and I take that as a sign he doesn't want me to move, so I stay still.

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome."

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them."

"Following's not really my style." Tony goes back to his screen and looks at the progress of his program.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?" Steve's muscles are trembling, and I can tell Tony is really riling him up.

"Out of the people in this room, which one is "A" wearing a spangly outfit and "B" not of use?"

"Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?" Banner chimes in, eating another blueberry.

"Just find the Cube." Steve mumbles then walks out of the lab, going somewhere.

I look at Tony and glare at him, "Tony, get your act together. I love you, but come on. Be nice for once." I roll my eyes and follow Steve to see if he's going to be okay. I have no idea where he's going, but when I do, we need to have a talk. I hope I didn't mess up my chances.


	6. Chapter 6

**Again, thank you everyone for reading this **** It truly means a lot to me. Now, onto the next chapter!**

**And yes, I am planning a sequel for this. I'm placing it after the Avengers to a more personal thing that's a lot more of my own thing. Remember, if you want to leave reviews or comments, go ahead!**

Chapter Six:

I run and try to catch up to Steve. He's gone to his own personal quarters for a few minutes, looking for something. I knock on his doorframe and he looks up at me then back down to what he's doing, signaling me inside.

I come in and shut the door then sit in a chair next to the bed. He's looking through empty drawers, and I'm not sure what exactly for.

"Steve, are you okay?" He sighs then looks at me, his blue eyes shining in the dim light. His bangs are covering his forehead, and it's taking all of my effort to not move them out of the way.

"I don't know what to think right now. What Stark and Doc said in there is just getting to me." He sits down on his bed and I get out of my seat and sit beside him. I put my hand on his knee and he looks up at me, a worried look on his face.

"Tony was right, I'm just useless with all of this stuff. What can I do? Punch someone and throw them into something? I'm a soldier, not a scientist." I lift up his chin to have him look me in the eyes.

"Steve, do you think you should do something? Because I believe you can do anything you want. Don't listen to Tony; he's just putting on a big show. Believe me, he's actually a teddy bear." I smile and Steve looks at me with a look in his eyes that I can't quite decipher.

"How do you know Stark and Thor?" I sigh and lean back on the bed. My head almost coming in contact with the wall and Steve turns and watches me. I look up at him and start with my small story.

"Well Cap," he gives a small smile at the use of his nickname and I place my hands behind my head, "Tony Stark is my baby cousin. He's actually older than I am, but I call him baby because I'm way more mature than he is. If you couldn't already tell." Steve nods for me to continue and so I do. I start swinging my legs and Steve puts his hand on my thigh. A shiver escapes my body but I try my best to ignore it.

"So when Tony and I were small our dads would work on Stark stuff while we played with different molecular models of stuff, Tony found it so interesting. But I was more into people, not machines. So as I got older I became an anthropologist, and got my doctorate at 22. Being that young and in this world gets some notice, so that's where I met Dr. Selvig. I was doing some work finding things that were out of place in historical places. Such as the pyramids in Egypt, Easter Island, etc." Steve's face turns to shock as I start explaining my past work and I can't help but smile.

"How old are you exactly?" He asks me and I sit up a little bit, getting closer to his face. I lean against the wall and reply, "24. Tony lends me some of his vehicles and whatnot to get around the world whenever I want to, so I do have some perks." I shrug and continue.

"Dr. Selvig and I worked together, along with Jane Foster. We all collided our scientific type of work, and I became more interested in the galactic side of anthropology. That's how I got my powers. I was on an excursion for Selvig and Foster when it happened. I didn't see them after it happened, but then I got contracted to help them with this Tesseract work. I was mostly working on where it came from; I had no idea what they were doing with it.

"But working with them is how I met Thor. When he came down here I was on that too, that was after my powers, but I was contracted with Coulson, but I had no idea who he was at the time. It didn't click until I came back on here. But I met Thor and secretly helped him against the government's wishes. And that's how I met Loki. Loki, in his rage fit in the United States, ended up killing my parents. Then laughed in my face about it when I stood next to Thor, attempting to defeat him. That's when I truly knew what my powers did. But, that's how I know all of them. I don't like to think about it too much." Steve nodded and leaned in toward me. My eyes widened and he held his arms out. I laughed to myself, thinking something more intimate would happen, but I quickly moved toward him and hugged him. His scent was the same as his apartment, and I took a deep breath in.

I feel his heart race faster, but mine is doing the same. His arms are warm and tense around me and I pull away slowly. We look at one another in the dim light and I put my hand on his cheek. It's warm, just like the rest of him. I lean in to him and whisper, "would you like to go on a treasure hunt?" I give a smirk and Steve lets a breath he was apparently holding in go. He slowly nods and I quickly kiss his cheek. A blush forms across our faces and I get up from his bed and hold out my hand to him.

"Then let's go, Cap. We've got some work to do."

* * *

About an hour passes before Steve and I finally find somewhere that looks promising. After looking through some files we find a place that looks pretty shady. Steve and I look at one another, then back at the door.

"Can you pry open the door, Cap?" He nods and does his super-strength thing and opens up the door with ease.

We walk inside and he takes my hand, leading me through the dark. We look around and notice nothing of good use.

"We need to get on that catwalk." He tells me. I look at him with a weird look. "And how do you expect me to get my happy ass up there? Climb? I'm not Catwoman." Now it's Steve's turn to give me a look, "Who?" I laugh and shake my head.

"Anyway, how am I supposed to get up there? Seriously." Steve looks at me, then at the catwalk.

"Well, I'll give you a boost." And with that he picks me up at the foot, holds another hand on my waist, and all but throws me up. My alternate vision kicks in and I catch the railing just in time. I climb the rest of the way up then glare back down at Steve. He's got a small grin on his face, and I roll my eyes. I switch my vision back and Steve takes a small running boost, and then hops up here with no trouble.

"Jackass," I mumble, and Steve laughs at me, then takes my hand once more and laces our fingers together. I look down and blush, thankful for the dark.

"You don't seem to be the forward type, Mr. Rogers." I remark and Steve shrugs his shoulders.

"Sometimes, Miss Montgomery, you just have to take a chance." I look up at him, shocked at his new found confidence. Where did this man come from, and what has he done with Steve Rogers?

"Well, this looks promising." I say as we enter a room full of different gun cases.

We stop before it and open it up, Steve gets a furious look on his face and I place my hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong, Cap?"

He looks at me then back at the weapon and slams the case lid down.

"HYDRA weapons. What a sick piece of shit." He mumbles and grabs the case. He shakes his head as we walk out of the chamber and we head straight to the lab.

* * *

We walk in and Fury, Tony and Banner are all standing around, yelling at each other.

"And you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss. What is Phase Two?"

Steve and I enter, and Steve slams the HYDRA gun hard onto the table.

"Phase Two is S.H.I.E.L.D. used the Cube to make weapons." He turns to Tony, "Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me." I move closer to Steve and put my arm around his waist and start rubbing his side to calm him down.

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're,"

"I'm sorry, Nick." Tony pipes in, turning his screen toward Fury. The blueprints on the screen were in some shape of missile, and I felt Steve's breathing hitch.

"What were you lying?" Tony remarks and I raise my eyebrow at Fury, wanting to know the answer as well.

"I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve mumbles and looks at me with sad eyes. I lean my head on his shoulder and he puts his arm around my waist, a comforting feeling for us both.

Thor and Natasha have now joined us in the room, and tension just feels the air. I see Banner look at Natasha warily, and I can't help but do the same.

"Did you know about this?" I ask her, and Natasha looks at everyone.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?" I scrunch my face at her and Banner asks which doctor she was referring to.

She looks at me, shakes her head then to Banner, "You."

Banner laughs, "I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed."

"Loki's manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what, exactly?"

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you." Everyone is looking between those two now; everyone else afraid of getting a word in.

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

Fury turns and points a finger at Thor. "Because of him."

"Me?" Thor looks utterly confused, and I can't really blame him.

"What the hell did he do?" I pipe up and Fury glares at me.

"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet, something I'm sure you're well aware of, Miss Montgomery. And this visitor had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly – hilariously, out-gunned." Thor looks offended, and so does everyone else in the room, except Natasha.

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet."

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled." Fury is getting ridiculously out of hand and Steve moves forward, taking me with him.

"Like you controlled the Cube!" He yells, and I try my best to keep him calm, but there's nothing more I can do. The tension continues rising in the room and I feel it under my skin. Each moment someone moves forward or makes a remark it gets worse. I look at the scepter and notice it glowing brighter and brighter. My vision changes and it's glowing red. Something bad is about to happen.

"Everyone, please, stop!" I yell, but no one is listening.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a_ higher form of war_!"

"_A higher form_?!" Steve yells and I break away from his hold and go to a corner. My vision is flickering and the vines are crawling up my body. I feel the poison leaking through my veins and I see them start popping up on my hands. Something is wrong here, I should not be this upset by people yelling.

"You forced our hand! We had to come up with some," Tony interrupts Fury with a passionate statement.

"Nuclear deterrent! 'Cause that always calms everything right down." The whole rooms starts lighting up with people yelling at one another. No one takes an interest in the girl in the corner on the floor. A golden light surrounds the scepter, mixing with the red.

"Remind me again how you made your fortune Stark?"

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep,"

"Wait-Wait! Hold on! How is this now about me?"

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve replies sarcastically.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this." Thor comments.

"Everyone, shut the fuck up!" Yet again, no one listens, and I slowly make my way over by Banner.

They continue arguing, but my body cannot take all of the emotion between everyone. I just sit in a corner and look at the monitors and something just, something just looks off.

I look at Steve and he's smirking at Tony. "Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds."

Thor laughs at the remark, "You people are so petty, and tiny." I roll my eyes and clutch my legs. I feel my nails elongate and put them directly on the floor.

"Yeah, this is a team." Banner remarks, and Fury look at him, then to Natasha.

"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his,"

"Where?! You rented my room!"

"The cell was just," Banner interrupts Fury once more, enraged.

"In case you needed to kill me! But you can't! I know, I tried!" Everyone stares at Banner and I see red start taking over his purple color. I stand up slowly and try to let my nails shrink down. I to Doctor Banner and he notices my glowing eyes. I whisper in his ear, "Red is overtaking you, Banner. Tread lightly." He nods and looks back to everyone staring at him.

"I got low. I didn't see an end so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on, I focused on helping other people. I was good until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk. You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"

"You can stop pulling out your fucking guns." I tell Fury and Natasha. I look to Banner and he silently thanks me. Everyone is looking at me now, then back to Banner.

"Doctor Banner," Steve says, "put down the scepter." Banner looks down at himself, surprised to see the scepter in his hands. The monitor next to him beeps and he puts the scepter back onto the table and looks at the monitor.

"Got it!" Fury remarks and Banner just stares at him.

"Sorry kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all."

Everyone starts piping at once again, and I just sit down against a cabinet and plug my ears.

I don't listen to anything until a few minutes later when I look up and see Steve's face looking panicked. "The engine blew; we need to go fix it. Come help Tony and I! We need you." I nod and follow him out. I try and control my vines and switch my vision.

We cross through a bunch of hallways and finally arrive at where we need to go. "Stark! Stark, I'm here." Steve says, "And so am I!" I reply.

"What is she doing here?"

"Tony, shut up and talk engine." I hear a sigh and then he says, "Okay, let's see what we got."

Steve and I fight off a couple of people, him punching and throwing, me sending poison whips at them. As soon as they fall, we hear Tony on the Bluetooth again.

"I gotta get this super conducting cooling system back online before I can access the rotors, work on dislodging the debris. I need you guys to get to that engine control panel and tell me which relays are in overload position."

Steve slings us both over the ledge and to the control system and he pulls it out.

"What's it look like in there?" Tony asks and Steve looks at me then replies, "It seems to run on some form of electricity."

"Well, you're not wrong. What do you think, Anna?" I tell him what it actually looks like then he replies, "Good. Now when I get this thing booted up, you need to pull that red lever so I can get out when it's done." We tell him okay, and stand our ground.

"All right Stark, the relays are intact." Steve says and I smile at him. "I love when you speak geek." Steve blushes and Tony makes a gagging noise.

We wait for Tony to get the routers back on, kicking some guys' asses while we wait.

Soon enough it's time for us to get ready to pull the lever. Tony is speeding up, but suddenly a crash sounds behind Steve and me. A man comes through and starts firing at us. I quickly whip a couple of vines at his partners, but Steve gets a gun and starts shooting at them. I look back and see him firing a gun, clearly in his element as a soldier.

Man, he is sexy.

We get the guys, but then the craft starts falling. Steve and I lose our balance but I grab a railing and Steve slips off the carrier.

"No!" I yell and run over to the side. Steve thankfully found a piece of wiring to hang on to, and I hear Tony scream to pull the lever. I use a vine from my fingers to pull the lever, and use another one to yank Steve up. He crashes onto the ground and I see Tony fly around and we all look at one another.

"_Agent Coulson is down_." We all hear over our earpieces. Tony lifts up his facemask, and I see tears welling up in his eyes. I go over and hold his hand, Steve next to me, close.

We quietly listen, waiting for the medical team to get there. Fury then pipes up solemnly, "_They called it_." My eyes water and we all go into the conference room, where Fury wants us to meet.

* * *

Steve, Tony and I are all gathered around the table, Fury and Maria Hill are on the other side. Fury pulls out cards and throws them on the table.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. Guess he never did get you to sign them." I look and they're his vintage trading cards, covered in blood. Steve looks at them and then back up to Fury.

"We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the Cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Think I had that coming." Fury comes around to our side of the table, "Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number, though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative." I look at Tony, and so does Steve, both of us with confused looks.

Fury pulls up a chair between Steve and Tony, and I sit, holding Steve's hand under the table. His warmth and body are comforting me right now, and I hope he doesn't let go.

"The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea; in heroes." Tony can't take anymore and walks out of the room. I sadly look at him as he exits then back to Fury, "Well, it's an old fashioned notion." He says, then gets up from the table.

Steve and I sit there a while in silence, and I lean my head on his shoulder. I feel him turn his neck and he looks at me, sadness filling his eyes.

"I don't know what to say." He whispers and I put my hand on his cheek, "It's okay Steve, you don't have to say anything. We'll get through this, it's all right." I rub his cheek softly and he picks up the cards with his left hand. He stares at his own face covered in blood, then throws them on the table.

"We will make this right." He says, then gets up from the table. He stands in the doorway then looks at me, "Are you coming?" I nod and give him a small smile, and we walk hand in hand, and go to find Tony.

There is some unfinished business we need to discuss.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **

**Sorry it's been so long, guys. School started back up and well, here I am. But here is a long chapter for you all. Almost 1000 readers. Wow. I'm in shock. I want to thank all of the followers and reviewers, and just everyone. I love you all, so much.  
****And I am going to have a sequel. There will be one more chapter, an epilogue, then the sequel will start! Thank you so much everyone. Mwah!**

Chapter Seven:

Steve and I walk into the detention room where the glass cage for the Hulk used to be. Tony is standing there, looking over the edge. Steve steps forward, and I let him and Tony have their space.

"Was he married?" Steve asks Tony, walking up next to him to look over the edge.

"No. There was a uh," Tony stumbles over his words in shock, "cellist, I think."

Steve looks back at me and starts walking toward me; Tony turns around and watches us.

"I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man." Steve mumbles to Tony as he reaches me.

"He was an idiot." Steve and I quickly look at Tony's face, mine in shock, Steve's in an unreadable expression.

"Why? For believing in heroes?" I ask Tony, and grab a hold of Steve's hand.

"For taking on Loki alone." Tony looks down and I close my eyes.

"He was doing his job." Tony moves towards us, anger seeping off of him.

"He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have," Steve cuts him off in a flurry, "Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony."

"Right. How did that work for him?"

"Tony," I mumble and he holds up a hand to silence me.

"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" Steve asks and grips my hand tighter.

"_We are not soldiers_! I'm not marching to Fury's fife!"

"Neither am I." Steve takes a breath, "He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does, but right now we gotta put that behind us and get this done. Now Loki needs a power source, if we can put together a list," Tony looks down at the area where Coulson fell and got stabbed. A dent in the wall stirs up his rage.

"He made it personal." Tony whispers.

"That's not the point." Steve says, and I look at him sadly.

"That is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart." I whisper out and stare at my cousin. Sadness leaks his eyes and emits from all of our bodies. This just isn't something we can forget about.

"Yeah, divide and conquer is great but, he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it. He wants and audience."

"Right. I caught his act in Stuttgart."

"Yeah. That's just the previews, this is, this is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tail diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered," Tony's eyes widen as he realizes something, "Son of a bitch." He mumbles. I look at him oddly then think about it for a second.

"The Stark Tower," I say, and Tony nods.

"I'll go get Natasha and Barton, you guys go do your thing." Tony and I look at one another. Steve leaves and I walk to Tony.

"Anthony Stark, I love you. And I will be here for you, you know that, right?" He looks at me and a small tear falls down his face. I take my index finger and wipe it away. Tony puts his arms around me and I kiss his cheek.

"Come on, Iron Man. Let's go give them a show." I smile and he returns it. We run and go and fetch a jet for New York.

* * *

I find Steve in the changing room where his suit is, and see him putting on his shield. I walk up behind him and place my hands on his shoulders.

"You ready for another war, Captain?" I ask and he swiftly turns around and smiles at me.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Is that what you're wearing?" I look down at my shorts and tank top with my biker boots, and look back to Steve.

"The babies don't like being restricted when they go to kill people." I make my vines shift and Steve laughs as they wiggle up my body. I look up at him and say, "But in all seriousness Steve, we can do this." He looks down at me and my smile turns into a look of admiration as Steve's chiseled face gets closer to mine.

"Yes, we can." Steve leans down and I try to meet him halfway. I feel his breath on my lips, I lick mine as a response. Before something can happen, I quickly grab his face and smash his lips to mine.

A feeling of euphoria comes over me and I an electric tingle strings through my veins and muscles. I forget that there is a battle need fighting, and many people in danger. The only person I am with is Steve. I've never felt something like this before, and I hope I never have to try with anyone else again.

We pull away from one another slowly. Steve's arms are around my waist, and mine on his face. I open my eyes and I'm in a daze. My vision is blurry and I can't focus on anything other than Steve.

"That was intense." Steve smiles and we look at one another; his face is full of red and I can only imagine mine looks the same.

"Now Captain Rogers, are you ready to save the world?" He shrugs and gives a small smile to me and gives my lips a small kiss once more. "With you, I feel like I could do anything." My face feels hot and I can't help but feel like I'm the one with the huge blush on my face now.

"Why don't you go get Natasha and Barton, and I'll go suit up, again." Steve nods and we go our separate ways, sharing a lingering glance one last time before the fight.

* * *

I put on a pair of flame resistant shorts and a black top that covered my arms, but left my fingers perfectly open so my vines can spread and strike. I look at myself in the mirror and put my red hair up in a ponytail, and my bangs fall over my glowing eyes. I walk down and meet Steve, Natasha and Barton right before the hangar bay.

Natasha and Barton look me up and down, and Steve takes a long lingering look. I bite my lip and ask, "Are we ready to go?" They all nod and I walk by Steve, Natasha and Barton following behind. We walk into the hangar and onto the jet, a S.H.I.E.L.D. engineer looks up at us, confused.

"Hey, you guys aren't authorized to be in here."

I look at Steve and he tilts his head, holding up his hand. "Son, just don't." The engineer leaves the jet and I start laughing, Barton smirking as well.

"Okay, now that was pretty funny." Everyone looks at me and I stop laughing. "Okay, I guess not." I mumble and we get onto the jet and head to New York City.

I look at Steve and he's pacing, looking out over the skyline as we get closer to the city. When he passes me once more I grab a hold of his hand and he looks at me, startled. I pat the seat to my right and once he sits, I put my head on his shoulder.

I feel his cheek on top of my head and I lace my fingers with his, sharing an intimate moment with him before we have to go into battle. "Steve, we can do this."

I look up at him, my cheek still on his shoulder. He looks down at me as well, his bangs falling in his face. I move them from his blue eyes and suddenly Natasha starts speaking into an earpiece.

"Stark, we're on a," I stop listening when I hear Tony's name. Steve and I stand up and I catch the rest of what Natasha says, "Three heading north east."

"What, did you stop for drive-thru? Swing that park, I'm gonna lay 'em out for you." I roll my eyes at Tony's remark about a drive-thru.

A few moments later I see Tony fly around and a group of Chitauri flies past us. Natasha and Barton release the canon gun, releasing fire on the warriors. We start flying through the smoke up to Stark Tower.

We come around a building, blasting the army that's firing at us. Then suddenly, one of our wings is hit by Chitauri gunfire. We slow down as it looks like we are about to crash into another building.

No sooner than we think we are about to crash, I see a blue blast and one of the rotor blades are hit and it catches fire. Natasha and Barton start screaming for us to hold on. Steve grabs a hold of the roof of the plane, holding me against him with his other hand.

We crash and graze different buildings, and finally hit the street. Natasha and Barton remove their headsets and open up the ramp. Steve and I follow and we exit the jet and step onto the overpass, Stark Tower towering above us.

"We gotta get back up there." Steve says as he looks up at the tower. We start running onto the main part of the overpass, each of us looking at the blue light looming at Stark Tower. Suddenly out of the portal comes a giant armored Leviathan, followed by warriors upon warriors. The Chitauri jump onto the sides of buildings and into the buildings, shooting civilians wherever they please.

"Tony, are you seeing this?" I ask him and I hear a crackled reply, "Seeing, still working on believing. Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"

"Banner?" Steve asks and Tony tells us to keep him posted.

The Leviathan is tearing through buildings roaring with power. Steve and I hurry over to Natasha and Barton who are crouched behind a taxi cab.

"What the hell is that?!" Natasha yells and I look at her, channeling my expertise on alien species.

"That's a Leviathan. It's the warship of the Chitauri. It holds many warriors, and is practically alive itself." Natasha just looks at me and so does Steve, in awe at my knowledge.

"We've got civilians trapped." Barton says and Loki quickly flies over us on a craft.

"Loki." Steve mutters as we watch Loki and his following troop blow up the streets. A family runs away as they are almost shot, and then another flying craft flies through a Dr. Pepper truck.

"Not the Dr. Pepper!" I yell and the three of them look at me with an odd expression.

"I like Dr. Pepper." I mumble out and watch as civilians run for their lives.

"_They're fish in a barrel down there_." I hear over my earpiece and Natasha looks pissed at the statement.

Natasha quickly stands and fires both of her guns at an incoming group of Chitauri.

"We got this. It's good. Go!" Natasha yells and Steve looks to Barton, "You think you can hold them off?"

"Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure." Barton grabs an arrow and shoots it, hitting an alien in the head. The arrow quickly separates into more arrows, killing three Chitauri aliens.

"Well that was cool." Steve looks at me and grabs a hold of my hand and we start running. He grabs a hold of me and we jump over the overpass. The wind gets knocked out of me, but I quickly get over it as Steve helps me run to wherever our destination is.

We run through the streets towards a group of police shooting at Chitauri. Steve jumps down on a car in front of them and starts barking out orders.

"You need men in these buildings." He says motioning around. "There are people inside and they can be running right into the line of fire. You take them to the basement or through the subway; you keep them off the streets. I need a perimeter as far back as 39th." The policemen look dumbfounded at a guy in spandex giving them orders.

My vines start twitching and start escaping from my fingers. I feel the poison start to drip down through my veins, and my eyes start to glow. I can only imagine what this sight looks like.

"Why the hell should I take orders from you?"

Four Chitauri attack the Captain and I, and we quickly take them out. I snap my vine around one's neck and use the other hand to throw a poison dart into its head. It convulses then falls down, I do the same to the other ones and the police officers look at the Captain and me. The sergeant walks back to his men and starts shouting orders.

"I need men in those buildings, lead the people down and away from the streets. We gonna set up a perimeter all the way down to 39th street." Steve and I look to one another and start back to find the rest of the Avengers.

Steve and I make it back to Natasha and Barton, seeing that they are overwhelmed we quickly do the best we can to lessen the blows on everyone. I poison a few and Steve hits them out of the way with his shield. Thor suddenly drops down from the tower and kills some Chitauri with a bolt of lightning.

Man am I glad to see him.

"What's the story upstairs?" Steve asks Thor.

"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable."

Over our earpieces I hear Tony's voice, "Thor is right, we gotta deal with these guys."

"How do we do this?" Natasha asks.

"As a team." I say and Thor speaks up.

"I have unfinished business with Loki."

Barton looks up at Thor and readies some of his arrows, "Oh yeah! Get in line."

"Save it. Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him these things could run wild. We got Stark up top, he's gonna need us to," Steve suddenly turns around as we all hear a motorcycle. I look back and see Dr. Banner. He looks like shit.

Banner gets off his bike as we all walk over to him.

"So, this all seems horrible." He mumbles and Natasha looks him up and down, "I've seen worse."

"Sorry."

"No, we could," she looks at all of us and then back to Banner, "Use a little worse."

"Stark, we got him." Steve says in the earpiece.

"Banner?"

"Just like you said."

"Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."

"Tony, be careful." I say and everyone looks at me with weird looks. "He's my family, okay?" I roll my eyes and look up and see Tony flying around a corner towards us, followed close by the Leviathan.

"I don't see how that's a party!" Natasha says and Tony draws the creature low. It skims the road and Banner turns to walk away, toward the Leviathan.

"Doctor Banner, now might be a really good time for you to get angry."

"That's my secret, Cap. I'm always angry." Banner smiles back at us then transforms into the Hulk, and punches the Leviathan with super human strength. It smashes to the ground and Tony yells out, "Hold on!"

He blasts a missile at the creature and it explodes, sending shrapnel everywhere. Barton ditches, Steve shields Natasha, and Thor stands taking the blast. I jump behind a pile of cars and hear the Chitauri cry out.

We all step out from behind our covers and stand in a large circle. Hulk roars, and Barton nocks and arrow. Thor readies Mjolnir, and Natasha loads her gun. Steve stands at my side ready, and Tony hovers above us, then lands next to the Hulk. Loki looks down at us from above.

He mumbles something and we all look up as more Leviathan and warriors fly through the portal.

"Guys?" Natasha says and Tony looks at Steve, "Call it, Captain."

"All right, listen up. Until we can close that portal up there, we're gonna use containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash."

"Wanna give me a lift?" Barton asks Tony.

"Right. Better clench up, Legolas." I laugh at the Lord of the Rings remark and look back to Steve as he gives out the rest of the orders.

"Thor! You gotta try and bottleneck that portal, slow 'em down. You got the lightning, light the bastards up." Thor swings Mjolnir, and flies off toward the Chrysler building.

Steve looks at Natasha and I, "We stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here. And Hulk!"

Hulk turns around and faces Cap, who points at him. "Smash!" Hulk grins and starts running and jumping, smashing Chitauri and throwing them along the way. He leaps across the air and slaps a flying craft out of the sky.

I see Thor land on top of the Chrysler building and he summons a bolt of lightning. He sends it shooting out towards the portal, taking out warriors and Leviathan.

We start fighting Chitauri relentlessly.

Natasha and I take turns shooting and poisoning them with my poison darts and vines with her guns. Steve is punching and throwing them as fast as he can as well. Natasha is fighting a Chitauri and she gets thrown on top of a car. The warrior is about to attack but she uses her Widow's Bite on it, shocking him out.

She grabs the Chitauri gun and shoots him back. Steve lands behind her and she quickly turns and aims, and my breath catches in my throat. She stands down and leans against the car.

I join them and Natasha looks at us both.

"None of this is gonna mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal."

"Our biggest guns couldn't touch it."

I look at them and say, "What if it's not about guns." They look to me and seem confused.

"You wanna get up there, you're gonna need a ride."

I glance up and see the Chitauri crafts fly past. Natasha knows where I'm going with this and we both look at one another.

"We have rides. But, we're gonna need a boost." Steve looks at us both and asks, "You sure about this?"

"Yeah, it's gonna be fun!" Natasha yells. I tell Natasha to go first. Steve readies his shield and Natasha takes a running boost. She jumps off Captain's shield and lands on a flying craft.

Steve looks at me and lowers his shield. I walk over to him, my boots pounding on the pavement.

"Be careful up there." I nod and smile at him, "And you be careful down here." I put my hands on each side of his face and kiss him softly.

"We shall meet again, Captain." I snake the vines out of my arms and blast them up to land on a flyer.

I catch myself on one and it whisks me off. I hop up onto the carrier and throw a dark into the driver's head and throw him off. I take a hold of the carrier and fly around.

I see a group of Chitauri and throw poison at them. The group goes down and I make my way up to Stark tower. I jump off of the flyer and look at Selvig. He's awakening from him being knocked out, I presume.

"Selvig, are you okay?" I bend over him and he looks at me, stunned. He blinks a few times and then gives me a weird look.

"Annabel Montgomery?" I nod and he looks scared. "What happened?"

"You were under the control of Loki. Do you know how to close the portal?" I hear a commotion in the penthouse and the Hulk and Natasha are with Loki. Hulk takes Loki and throws him repeatedly into the ground.

"Puny god." Hulk mumbles and I am startled that he can actually talk.

"Doctor." Natasha walks out to the platform and kneels beside us.

"Loki's scepter, the energy – the Tesseract can't fight. You can't protect against yourself."

"It's not your fault. You didn't know what you were doing."

"Well, actually I think I did. I built in a safety to cut the power source." Natasha and I look at one another then back to Selvig.

"Loki's scepter."

"It may be able to close the portal. And I'm looking right at it." I look down at the scepter and then to Natasha.

I use my vines to bring up the scepter and we both look at Selvig. Selvig is setting up his equipment and he points to the device.

"Right in the crown!" Natasha and I push the spear through the barrier surrounding the cube, and it's hard as hell to break.

"I can close it. Doc and I can close it! Can anybody copy? We can shut the portal down!"

"Do it!" I hear Steve's voice over the earpiece and Tony comes as well, "No, wait."

"Stark, these things are still coming!"

"I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute."

I see Tony fly towards the missile, following closely behind it.

"And I know just where to put it."

Tony flies the missile up to the portal and we close the portal, hoping Tony can make it out.

Suddenly all of the Chitauri warriors collapse and the Leviathans fall from the sky.

"Come on, Stark."

"Close it." Steve comes over the earpiece and I let go of the scepter, unable to fathom what is about to happen.

"Come on, Tony." I whisper to myself, tears starting to well up in my eyes.

The portal is almost fully closed, but suddenly there's a body that falls out of the portal.

"Son of a gun!" I hear Steve through the earpiece and I smile in joy. Natasha and I quickly go down to the ground and I look at Thor as he says, "He's not slowing down."

Thor gets ready to catch Tony, but instead the Hulk grabs him out of the air, slides down the side of a building and crashes to the ground.

He throws Tony off of him and we all run over.

Thor pulls off Tony's facemask and I see Tony's face, seemingly lifeless.

"Tony, you piece of shit, wake up!" I yell and nothing happens. The arc reactor isn't glowing and I look up at Steve.

Hulk then roars and beats his chest, and Tony suddenly gasps and opens his eyes, looking around.

"What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me."

"We won." Steve says, and sits on the ground.

I hit his chest plate and he looks at me, "You ass hole. I thought you died."

"Well, sorry about your luck. You're stuck with me a while." I roll my eyes and hug my cousin.

"All right, hey, all right. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. You ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it."

"We're not finished yet." Thor says and we all look back at Tony.

"And then shawarma after?" I laugh and we all make our way up to Stark Tower, in the penthouse where Loki is. We have some unfinished business to attend to.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight:

We all enter Stark Tower and head up to the penthouse. We walk in the room and see Loki trying to crawl over to the stairs. He looks up and sees us all standing there, surrounding him. Hawkeye has an arrow aimed at his face. And Natasha is holding his scepter. I look back at the Hulk and he growls at Loki.

"If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now." He sheepishly stares at us and I roll my eyes.

"Thor can take care of you, Loki." He looks down at the ground and Thor takes him away.

We all stare at one another after Thor leaves and Banner shrinks back to normal. He lies in a pile of nakedness on the floor and I quickly run over to a closet and get out a blanket for him.

He looks up in a daze and takes the blanket from me, thankfully. I give him a small smile and look toward everyone, staring at Banner.

"Give him some room, guys." They all disappear and I ask Banner if he'd like some water.

"I would like that, thank you." I nod and ask Jarvis where the glasses were. Banner looks around as Jarvis replies, "They are under the bar, Dr. Montgomery."

"Jarvis, I told you to call me Annabel." He apologizes and fixes it in his computer, and I give Banner a glass of water.

Tony enters the room, along with Steve, and I look at Tony.

"Have you called Pepper and told her what happened?"

As soon as I say her name Pepper runs into the room and glares at Tony. "Why in the hell did you not try and call me to tell me you might, oh, I don't know, _die_?!"

I bite my lip to stop from laughing and watch Tony as he tries to scramble for something to tell her.

"Well, I did try. But, you didn't answer." Pepper rolls her eyes and then looks at me.

"Annabel, it's so good to see you. I'm glad you're all right." I smile at her and reply, "Can you go back to yelling at Tony? It's hilarious." Steve comes next to me and we help Dr. Banner up off of the floor. "Dr. Banner, there's a room down the stairs with clothes that will fit, also a warm shower." He looks at us and I give him a small smile. I feel Steve's hand on the small of my back.

"Thank you." He says quietly, and walks out of the room. I look up at Steve and he smiles down at me. I turn and give him a hug. He puts his arms around my waist and I take in a deep breath.

"Well, it's over now." I hear him mumble and I move away and look at his solemn face.

"Back to the old grind." I reply, and he gives a small smile. I look back to Tony and Pepper and see them kissing very aggressively. I look up to Steve and motion out of Tony's penthouse and Steve nods furiously.

We go to the elevator and I press the button for the basement. Steve follows and we head down and down Stark tower. I ask Jarvis where the keys are located, and he said that the cars do not have keys, they are voice recognized. But he will add my voice to the technology. I thank him and we finally arrive in the basement.

I quickly go over to a Jeep and Steve spots an old motorcycle. We look at one another and then at our vehicle choices.

"I shall see you soon, Captain Rogers." He nods and then says, "Until next time."

I get in the Jeep and tell it the location I am headed, and it starts up and gives me a map on a holographic screen.

"This is cool."

"Mr. Stark has installed all advanced technology in every one of his vehicles for easier access throughout the United States and other parts of the world."

"Of course he has. Thank you Jarvis."

"If you need anything, Miss Annabel, just call my name." I put the Jeep in drive, and then head to my destination of a cheap hotel on the outskirts of the city.

Central park is so beautiful today. A feeling of hope surrounds the city, and I exit the Jeep and stare at the oncoming Avengers. We all enter a large circle on the path, and I look and see Tony carrying a briefcase, and Thor has Loki. Loki is in a muzzle and handcuffs, and I can't help but laugh at the sight.

Barton, Natasha, Banner and Steve all walk from their cars and stand next to me as we watch the scene before us. Selvig gets out of a truck and grabs a glass cylinder.

Tony opens up his briefcase, and Banner takes out the cube with a pair of tongs. He puts it into the glass cylinder Selvig has in his hands. Loki stares at us all, and he looks so angry. I give a small smirk and look over at Natasha. She whispers something in Barton's ear, and by his smile, I can only imagine the words from her mouth.

I look up at Steve and he stares back down at me.

"That's not a sight you get to see every day." I say to him, and he shrugs his shoulders. "Justice is justice, no matter the sight." I put my arm through his and set my head on his shoulder.

Thor walks around us all, Loki standing in place, knowing if he moves something terrible will happen to him.

Thor shakes hands with everyone, but when he comes to Steve and I, he looks at us both.

"Captain, it was a pleasure meeting your acquaintance. You are a good man." Steve nods his head and shakes Thor's hand firmly.

"And as are you, God of Thunder." Thor then looks at me and his face softens.

"It was a pleasure seeing you again, Dr. Montgomery. Under these circumstances, not so wonderful. But, may we meet again in the future. Preferably without any violence this time." I smile and let go of Steve. I hug Thor tightly and he kisses the top of my head.

"May we see another again, Lady Annabel." He moves backward and turns to Loki. He holds the glass cylinder with the Tesseract. He gestures to Loki and Loki grabs the other end. Thor nods to us all and he twists the device. It lights up and the two vanish into the sky.

We all start walking back to our vehicles and Steve and Tony shake hands with one another as they say their goodbyes.

I look over and see Natasha pull out a duffel bag and hand it to Banner from the SHIELD car. Barton goes into the driver's seat and gives me a small wave, and he and Natasha drive off.

Tony and Banner get into his car and drive off as well, leaving Steve and I here by ourselves.

"So this is it." I say and Steve looks at me, putting his hand under my chin.

"We will see each other again. And when it happens, we know it'll be right." I give him a small smile and nod.

"See you then, Captain Rogers."

"See you then, Annabel Montgomery." We lean in and kiss one another softly. His lips and mine meld to form one kiss. We pull away and my vision is slightly unfocussed.

I enter the Jeep and Steve gets on his motorcycle. I drive off into the sun, and hope for the day where I get to see Steve one last time.

**Epilogue:**

_6 months later_:

I sit in the diner after work and stare into my cup of coffee. On the opposite side of me I see Dr. Banner with a newspaper in his hand.

"Banner, we need to think of a plan of action." I mumble and sip at my diner coffee. The bitter taste doesn't agree with my stomach and I push it away. Banner moves the paper and he rolls his eyes.

"We just need to think of a lesson plan, Annabel."

"I know, but I've just always wanted to say that." Banner laughs and puts down his paper and starts sipping at his own cup of coffee.

"I think we should have them work on the effects of gamma on the anatomy. It'd be kind of our own secret and inside joke." I roll my eyes, "Banner this is an anthropology class. Not physics or biochemistry, or whatever the hell that would be."

Banner gives me that 'I hope you're joking' look and I shrug and pull the waitress aside.

"Excuse me, may I have a glass of orange juice, please?" I see her face turn to annoyed and she stares at me.

"Are you not satisfied with your coffee?" She gives a smile that I know is forced, and since I've been dealing with shitty college kids all day, I wasn't in the mood for it.

"Listen honey, I know you think I'm being rude, but coffee just isn't my thing. And I ordered it automatically, so please, just bring me a glass of orange juice."

She rolls her eyes and I look at Banner who is staring at me.

"What? I don't like bitchy people. I had to wait on people all through college. And she doesn't look like she's doing much with her life." Banner shakes his head and she brings me my orange juice. She slams it on the table and walks away.

I switch my vision quickly and examine it and see that there is a red shape in there. Spit. She spit in my orange juice.

I switch my vision back and look at Banner.

"She spit in my orange juice." He tries to hold back his laughter and I get up out of my chair. I go up to the counter and tell another waitress, "Hi. That woman over there spit in my orange juice because I asked for it instead of another coffee. You should do something about her." The woman turns furious and I smirk to myself and head back to the table.

"All right Banner, I'm done with this. I will see you tomorrow and we will think of a collaborative class plan for next week." He nods and I leave the diner with my leather satchel and get out the keys to my Jeep.

I head to Stark Tower and Jarvis lets me in upon scan.

"Annabel, I need to ask you something." Pepper says as soon as I walk into the door and into their large dining room.

"What's that, Pepper?"

"I need you to tell me why in the hell Tony is off playing in his Iron Man suit again!"

My eyes widen and I look at her, "I have no idea. I just got an invitation from Jarvis for dinner."

"Oh, well, I apologize. Can you contact him and tell him you're here?"

"Tony or Jarvis? Because Jarvis already knows I'm here." Pepper gives me a motherly type look and I quickly call Tony on my cell phone.

"Belle,"

"Tony, cut the shit. Pepper is giving me a death glare and wants you home, _now_." I end the call and stare at Pepper.

"Now, Pepper, you can tell me what you have planned to get Steve and I back together."


End file.
